Recycle Your Batteries – Help Save The Planet!

Here at St Mary’s we continue to promote our Eco Status and this week we received our ‘Battery Box’.

With an ever increasing reliance on technology we seem to be using more and more batteries and surprisingly many are simple discarded into a normal waste bin. It is important that we recycle all of our batteries so the St Mary’s Eco Team want each of us to start recycling them properly. The box will be located near the Year 5 classroom and available for all. We will keep you updated on the amount we collect. (The Eco Team think that after Christmas we will probably get lots more!)

Here are some facts about batteries that you may not have known.

Nickel-based batteries

What you should know! NiCd and NiMh batteries should never be thrown in the rubbish! They are categorised as household hazardous waste, and they can leech harmful chemicals if you send them to the local landfill.

After recycling Materials are reused in new batteries and stainless steel products. So your designer sunglasses may have once been part of a battery.

Lithium-based batteries

What you should know! Lithium can be highly reactive and can cause fire if it overheats. That is why most lithium batteries contain protection circuits. Because of this unpredictability, it is crucial to recycle them.

After recycling Materials are reused in new batteries.

Alkaline batteries

What you should know Alkaline batteries can and should be recycled when at all possible. Recycling alkaline batteries keeps them from cluttering our landfills. In this electronic age we get through a lot of batteries and it is a good idea to have a dedicated bin for the sole purpose of recycling the batteries.